2 figurative an organization or system perceived to have far-reaching and typically harmful effects : the octopus of destructive politics.

DERIVATIVES
octopoid |-ˌpoid| adjective
ORIGIN mid 18th cent.: from Greek oktōpous (see also Octopoda ).
USAGE The standard English plural of octopus is octopuses. However, the word octopus comes from Greek, and the Greek plural form is octopodes ( |äkˈtäpəˌdēz|). Modern usage of octopodes is so infrequent that many people mistakenly create the erroneous plural form octopi, formed according to rules for Latin plurals. See also usage at ‘-i’ .